View full sizeKhallid Tanveer/The Associated PressVillagers stranded by floodwater wait to be evacuated in Sanawan near Multan in central Pakistan last week. U.S. Army choppers flew their first relief missions in Pakistan's flood-ravaged northwest, airlifting hundreds of stranded people to safety from a devastated tourist town and distributing emergency aid.

Aid organizations in Oregon are scrambling to respond to the crisis in
Pakistan.

The Tigard organization is air-freighting more supplies from the Netherlands and
may dispatch a team of medical volunteers, if money can be raised.

Mercy Corps, which had suspended operations in Pakistan after
kidnappers killed one of its aid workers, is back in action there.

Workers for the Portland-based organization are distributing food, water
and supplies.

"What we call 'slow-build' disasters are more difficult to raise money
for than a quick and tumultuous event like an earthquake," said Joy
Portella, a spokeswoman for Mercy Corps, which has raised $65,000 online
so far for the disaster.